University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati created artificial intelligence that's so advanced it could change the future of air combat.

The AI system faced off retired United States Air Force Colonel Gene Lee in a flight simulation. Lee has trained thousands of US Air Force pilots and has combated AI systems in simulations since the 1980's, but said the AI developed by the University of Cincinnati is nothing like he's ever seen.

The AI, dubbed ALPHA, is "the most aggressive, responsive, dynamic, and credible AI I've seen to date," Lee said in a press release.

ALPHA is, in fact, the best AI combat system to-date. It has consistently beat the program used by the Air Force Research Lab. Lee was unable to score a single shot against ALPHA and was shot out of the air every single time in the simulation.

"I was surprised at how aware and reactive it was," Lee said. "It seemed to be aware of my intentions and reacting instantly to my changes in flight and my missile deployment."

Nick Ernest, the president and CEO of AI development company Psibernetix, created ALPHA with aerospace professors from the University of Cincinnati. Ernest recently got a PhD from the University's College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Ernest said his team will work on extending ALPHA's capabilities going forward and performing additional testing against other trained pilots.

ALPHA could eventually be used to lessen the likelihood of mistakes during actual combat by working with a human pilot. ALPHA is capable of coordinating a tactical plan and response 250 times faster than humans could in the air.